Being the Change – photography exhibition
Our Being the
Change photo exhibition launched at gofod3 2019 on 21
March, and showcases just 11 of our 900
members.
Together,
these images represent all staff and volunteers who work the length
and breadth of Wales, in what is estimated to be over 32,000 third
sector organisations.
Each and
every one of them are being the change they
want to see in society.
But we can
all be that change. There is a charity or social enterprise that
needs you. Get involved and help these organisations thrive, so we
can improve the wellbeing of all people in Wales.
All images
were taken by photographer Warren Orchard who
predominantly works within the media and advertising sectors, for
the likes of Netflix, Channel 4, Universal and Warner Brothers,
recently winning a Bafta Cymru for his title sequence for the TV
series Hinterland / Y Gwyll.
The exhibition launches at gofod3 on 21 March and will be
shown at the National Eisteddfod in Llanrwst between 3 and 10
August 2019.
Roy Fyles
Anglesey
Foodbank
Volunteer
Roy volunteers to help run Anglesey Foodbank. They want to
alleviate the hunger and poverty they see in their
community.
Those who need support and can make the journey – either because
they have the bus fare or are physically able – come to Elim Church
in Holyhead. They pick four items from the fresh produce, donated
by the local supermarket, and then wait for their order of dried
and tinned food, while a friendly face offers them a cuppa and a
little to eat.
Roy is responsible for rural deliveries, and uses an electric
van, funded by the Postcode Lottery and Horizon, to get around the
island. These deliveries doubled last January. He puts this spike
for emergency food packages down to sanctions and five-week delays
for Universal Credit payments.
He regularly goes the extra mile, and works well past the
foodbank’s opening hours. A distraught mother recently called,
whose 20-something daughter, discharged from hospital after a
serious operation, had not eaten for two days. Roy jumped in his
van to make a special delivery.
Adrian Bradley
Antur
Stiniog
Mountain Bike Development
Officer
The social enterprise, Antur
Stiniog, in Blaenau Ffestiniog, is Adrian’s workplace and he loves
it.
He’s been working at the bike park for the past seven years,
though he’s been racing bikes for the past 20. Now a mountain bike
development officer, this former Welsh and British mountain bike
champion spends his days buying bikes, developing trails and
securing new grants.
Not only has the bike park nurtured local talent but offers
training and career opportunities to the local community. It has
also kick-started community regeneration, with tourists now
spending £16.25 per head. In 2007, when Antur Stiniog was first
established, spend per head was just 25p in Blaenau
Ffestiniog.
Antur Stiniog, which led the way for Zip World Bounce Below,
demonstrates how a social enterprise can kick-start a community’s
local economy. With passion and determination.
Dafydd Pett
Bridgend and
District Beekeepers Association
Member
Beekeeping has been in Dafydd’s family for over 50 years. His
grandfather, Mike, was a well-known beekeeper, who founded Pant
Derwen Apiary. Dafydd started beekeeping at just 11-years-old, with
one hive. Sadly, two years ago, Mike died, with Dafydd inheriting
40 hives.
Today, the 16-year-old remains the youngest member of the
Bridgend and District Beekeepers Association. Their experienced
support network has been invaluable, particularly the beginner
course that Dafydd attended twice (he confesses that, quite
understandably, he wasn’t listening the first time).
Dafydd travels to Slovakia in 2019. He will be one of three
Welsh representatives at the International Meeting of Young
Beekeepers. He admits to being “a bit of a tree-hugger” and
environmentalist, because “a third of our food would disappear
without bees”.
Under his management, the company has grown to 70 hives, and is
turning a small profit.
Suzanne Duval
Diverse
Cymru
BME Mental Health Manager
Award-winning Suzanne has been a campaigner within the BME
sector for over 30 years. She has spent almost 20 years dedicated
to improving mental health services for BME individuals and
communities.
In 2010, Awetu (of which she was the Director) and Cardiff and
Vale Coalition of Disabled people merged together to form Diverse
Cymru which was launched in 2011, in recognition of the
difficulties and discrimination faced by people experiencing
inequality in Wales.
Suzanne is a trailblazer, having designed and published Wales’
first ever Cultural Competency Toolkit for BME mental health in
2016. It helps health professionals and services deliver more
appropriate culturally sensitive care and support to their diverse
client group.
In 2018, Suzanne and Dr Charles Willie designed and developed
the BME Mental Health Workplace Good Practice Scheme for mental
health practitioners. It is the first of its kind in the UK
and has been endorsed by The Royal College of Psychiatrists. To
date, seven health boards, one health trust and five voluntary
sector organisations have signed up.
Helal Uddin
EYST (Ethnic Youth
Support Team)
Senior Swansea, Carmarthen & Powys Orientation Service
Coordinator
EYST is an award-winning charity that supports BME young people,
families and individuals in Wales. Since 2005, it has grown to a
staff of 40 and 100 volunteers.
Helal has been with EYST every step of the way. First, as a
youth worker, and now the leader of the Syrian Resettlement
Project, for Carmarthen, Powys, and Swansea. He and his team have
welcomed 60 families. For many, Helal is the first person they meet
at the airport.
Helal describes his work as incredibly rewarding. His goal is to
help families, who’ve endured years of enforced regimented camp
conditions, to start thinking for themselves again. To live
independently, in their new home.
His proudest moment, to date, is seeing a 20-something father, in
the space of three years, learning English, finding part-time work,
and earning his driver’s licence.
Salli Edwards
Citizens Advice
Flintshire
Chief Executive
Salli has been the Chief Executive of Citizens Advice Flintshire
since 2001. Her team of 36 staff help support approximately 7,000
clients per year. This does not include family members.
When Citizens Advice was first set up, a popular query was how
to apply for a fishing licence. Those days are gone. Today’s
clients have a range of complex issues that are not so easily
resolved.
The current climate has Salli at her gloomiest: she worries
about continued austerity, welfare reform and the uncertainty of
Brexit paralysing funding institutions and organisations. She has
not felt like this since the late ’80s and is fearful for the
future, because she may soon be forced to close frontline services,
which she has always managed to prioritise.
This will impact on what she considers to be the best part of
her job: developing people who are passionate about advice. And she
walks the talk: every single member of her senior management team
started out as a volunteer.
Lois Bolton, Alison Jakob and Angela Morris, with
three-year-old Connie
Hope
Rescue
Volunteers
Hope Rescue has been saving the lives of stray, abandoned and
unwanted dogs since 2005. Based in Llanharan, they help 800 dogs a
year, which is approximately a quarter of all strays in
Wales.
They help dogs in Rhondda Cynon Taff, Bridgend and the western
part of the Vale of Glamorgan. They are also committed to taking in
all stray dogs from Blaenau Gwent, Merthyr Tydfil, and
Torfaen.
Hope Rescue is indebted to volunteers like Lois, Alison and
Angela, who help give hope to dogs like three-year-old Connie.
She’s been in Hope Rescue’s care since December 2016 and is
currently looking for a new home.
Len Richards
Llyfrau
Llafar Cymru
Volunteer
Len Richards, who lives in Nantgaredig, has been volunteering at
Talking Books Wales for the past 28 years, reading novels in a
small studio in Carmarthen for the enjoyment of others. He is one
of 35 volunteers who support two part-time staff members to publish
each year some 50 audio recordings of popular books, mainly in the
Welsh language.
Established in 1979, Talking Books Wales has published nearly
2,500 audio recordings in total, and serves the whole of Wales.
Today it provides a free service to approximately 450 blind people,
partially sighted people or those who have difficulty reading
print.
They currently distribute their recordings as CDs, as it best
suits the needs of their clients, who are of an older age-group.
But with fast moving technical changes afoot, and the number of
people with sight problems set to double by 2025, this charity is
ready to evolve to ensure future generations are able to enjoy
books in their mother tongue.
Victoria Pedicini
Threshold
DAS
Chief Executive
Vicky is the Chief Executive of Threshold DAS, an organisation
working with women, men, children and young people who experience
domestic abuse and sexual violence, and men who exhibit abusive
behaviour.
Vicky was born and raised on the outskirts of Llanelli, and
first came to Threshold DAS (formerly known as Llanelli Women’s
Aid) as a volunteer in 2000.
Under her leadership, Threshold DAS has a staff team of 45 and –
importantly – 30 volunteers. She also facilitated the need for
a male perpetrator programme in Wales, with Threshold becoming one
of the first women’s organisations in Wales to secure funding to
run an Early Family Intervention Programme that included a
perpetrator programme.
This change of direction, to also work with male
perpetrators, has been controversial. But she took this decision
after extensive research and consultation with staff members and
service users, all of whom wanted to find a solution to the growing
problem of male violence: and offering families a whole-family
approach to stay together safely or to spilt amicably.
Tirion Jenkins
Time
to Change Wales
Digital Engagement Officer
24-year-old Tirion works part-time for Time to Change Wales in
Cardiff, while studying for a Masters in Art, Health and Wellbeing.
She also works in a coffee shop on weekends.
Time to Change Wales is a growing social
movement working to change the way we all think and act about
mental health problems, by encouraging people to talk about their
mental health so as to reduce stigma and discrimination.
As Digital Engagement Officer, Tirion looks after all their
social media accounts. It means she is almost permanently
glued to her phone.
She loves her job and is passionate about helping people share
their stories. With her own lived experience of mental health, and
the loss of a friend to suicide, she understands the power of
stories to comfort and reassure.
One in four people will fight a mental health problem in any
given year, and the stories gathered by Tirion can help people
understand that it can affect anyone.
Laura Grindey
Tŷ
Hafan
Fundraising Coordinator
Tŷ Hafan celebrated its 20th anniversary in January
2019. It is one of the UK’s leading paediatric palliative care
charities, offering care to children and support for their families
throughout Wales.
Laura is part of the Supporter Care Team, at the charity’s
headquarters in Sully. She looks after regular givers and hosts
monthly visits for fundraisers who go to great lengths to raise
funds.
Laura has been involved with Tŷ Hafan for the past 15 years.
When she turned 18-years-old, she chose to volunteer for Tŷ Hafan.
Since then she’s been a charity ambassador and a collection box
agent, before getting her current job.
She views the charity as family. She’s pictured in Tŷ Hafan’s
upcycling project, in the handcrafted workshop, where volunteers
and staff come twice to three times a week to turn an unwanted item
into a saleable item, with all profits going to the charity.